Invigorating school partnerships

The Chicago Public Schools system is raising the bar for companies that contribute to the system under so-called education partnerships.

Under plans to be announced Monday, companies will be asked to promise that their CEOs will visit a school at least once a year, staffers will take part in mentoring and similar volunteer activities at least three times a year and their partner schools will receive as much as $25,000 each in donated goods and materials.

Among those being asked to commit to the plan first are the roughly 1,000 companies participating in the annual Principal for a Day event this Thursday.

Included in this year's activities are Bank One Corp. CEO Jamie Dimon and Johnson Publishing Co. President and CEO Linda Johnson Rice.